BACKGROUND: Scientists believe the 12,000 year old ice
shelf which broke off the coast of Antarctica over a recent 35-day
period detached as the result of warming in the region over the
last 50 years or more. But they could not conclude that it was
the result of human activity such as greenhouse gas emissions.
Ted Scambos, a glaciologist at the University of Colorado's National
Snow and Ice Center told the San Francisco Chronicle, "It
will take a lot more evidence and a lot more worldwide climate
modeling before we can say anything for certain."

TEN SECOND RESPONSE: Scientists again admit that there
isn't enough evidence to point to man as the cause of warming
events.

THIRTY SECOND RESPONSE: Scientists studying Antarctica
acknowledge that there's been a warming trend there for hundreds
of years1 - long before greenhouse
gas emissions became an issue. Temperatures in the interior of
Antarctica have actually been cooling since the mid-1980s. It's
another case of the power of nature.

DISCUSSION: The 1,250 square mile piece of the Larsen
B ice shelf broke off Antarctica on January 31. Scientists continued
to watch it break apart via satellite photos. It broke into icebergs
of various size over 35 days.

The interior of Antarctica has shown a cooling trend since
the mid-1980s, according to the National Science Foundation's
Longterm Ecological Research team. Nature magazine reported
in January that these scientists found that temperatures in the
McMurdo Dry Valleys of east Antarctica have dropped 1.2 degrees
Fahrenheit per decade since 1986.